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60 EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR SELLING MORE BOOKS

A Best-Seller Marketing Approach to Growing Your Career

Scott Jeffrey

Copyright © 2005 Scott Jeffrey

Please feel free to print this e-book. You can also share a copy with a
friend. You may not sell or change anything in this e-book. This e-
book is available through an exclusive offer at
www.BestSellingAuthor.com.

Published by Creative Crayon Publishing


230 Kings Mall Court, Suite 142
Kingston, NY 12401

Cover design: Jared McDaniel, www.Studio430.com

ISBN: 0-9714815-2-0

Find out how you can become a best-selling


author from a true publishing giant:
www.BestSellingAuthor.com

Learn about Scott’s author coaching program:


www.CreativeCrayon.com
60 EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR SELLING MORE BOOKS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 7

Book Marketing Basics................................................................................................... 7


The Spark........................................................................................................................ 8
Striking a Chord.............................................................................................................. 9
The Bestseller Lists....................................................................................................... 11
THE STRATEGIES ....................................................................................................... 13

Platform Building ......................................................................................................... 13


Web Marketing ............................................................................................................. 32
Publicity ........................................................................................................................ 44
Offline Sales and Marketing ......................................................................................... 49
THE TOOLS ................................................................................................................... 60

Author Website ............................................................................................................. 60


Media Kit & Speaker’s Kit ........................................................................................... 63
Product Development ................................................................................................... 67
Revenue Streams........................................................................................................... 69
Success Indicators: Tracking Your Results ................................................................. 71
FINAL THOUGHTS ...................................................................................................... 74

ABOUT THE AUTHOR ................................................................................................ 76

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LIST OF STRATEGIES

#1 - Draft Your Marketing Plan ....................................................................................... 13


#2 - Submit Articles for Publication ................................................................................ 15
#3 - Become a Magazine or Newspaper Columnist ......................................................... 15
#4 - Create a Results-Driven Author Website.................................................................. 16
#5 - Create a Content-Driven Website ............................................................................. 17
#6 - Become a Resource for Resources............................................................................ 18
#7 - Develop Your Keynote Address(es) ......................................................................... 18
#8 - Speak Locally............................................................................................................ 19
#9 - Develop a Seminar Platform ..................................................................................... 19
#10 - Teach a Course Through The Learning Annex................................................. 20
#11 - Build a Consulting and/or Training Business ................................................... 21
#12 - Build a Coaching Practice................................................................................. 22
#13 - Target Local Businesses ................................................................................... 23
#14 - Retain the Services of Speakers Bureaus.......................................................... 23
#15 - Develop a “Wowing” Speaker’s Kit ................................................................. 24
#16 - Maneuver into Your Own Media Platform....................................................... 24
#17 - Become an Internet Radio Talk Show Host...................................................... 25
#18 - Generate Testimonials and Endorsements ........................................................ 26
#19 - Craft an e-Book................................................................................................. 26
#20 - Create a “Live” Audio/Video Product .............................................................. 27
#21 - Develop an Audio Program Through Nightingale-Conant............................... 27
#22 - Develop Market-Specific Merchandise ............................................................ 28
#23 - Publish Another Book....................................................................................... 29
#24 - Build an Empire ................................................................................................ 30
#25 - Launch an e-newsletter ..................................................................................... 32

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#26 - Be a Blogger ..................................................................................................... 33


#27 - Add “Tell-a-Friend” Functionality ................................................................... 34
#28 - Utilize Autoresponders ..................................................................................... 34
#29 - Leverage Amazon.com’s Marketplace and eBay ............................................. 35
#30 - Solicit Amazon.com Customer Book Reviews................................................. 35
#31 - Online Content Submission .............................................................................. 36
#32 - Create Strategic Alliances with Other Authors................................................. 37
#33 - Master Pay-Per-Click Advertising.................................................................... 37
#34 - Conduct Search Engine Optimization............................................................... 38
#35 - Enhance Your Website Conversion Rates ........................................................ 39
#36 - Moderate an Online Discussion Group............................................................. 39
#37 - Develop a Distance Learning Program or e-Course ......................................... 40
#38 - Conduct Teleseminars and Webinars................................................................ 41
#39 - Affiliate Marketing ........................................................................................... 41
#40 - Execute the “Amazon.com Push” ..................................................................... 42
#41 - Build an Amazon.com “Listmania” List........................................................... 43
#42 - Hire a Publicist.................................................................................................. 44
#43 - Hire a Media Trainer......................................................................................... 44
#44 - Develop a Captivating Media Kit ..................................................................... 45
#45 - Generate Free Publicity on the Radio ............................................................... 45
#46 - Solicit Book Reviews........................................................................................ 47
#47 - Utilize Media e-Blast & FOD Services ............................................................ 48
#48 - Build a “VIP List”............................................................................................. 49
#49 - Send a Handwritten Note .................................................................................. 51
#50 - Start Local, Go Global ...................................................................................... 52
#51 - Facilitate Study Groups..................................................................................... 52
#52 - Pursue Bulk Sales and Specialty Market Opportunities ................................... 53

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#53 - Traditional Direct Marketing ............................................................................ 54


#54 - Conduct Local Book Signings .......................................................................... 55
#55 - Sell Product at Your Speaking Engagements (BOTR) ..................................... 55
#56 - Join Trade Organizations and Attend Book Conferences................................. 56
#57 - Create a Book-Promoting Business Card ......................................................... 57
#58 - Brainstorm Promotional Campaigns................................................................. 58
#59 - Launch an “Ideavirus” and Create a “Purple Cow”.......................................... 59
#60 - Insert Your Brilliant Book-Selling Idea Here................................................... 59

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INTRODUCTION

Book Marketing Basics

Writers need to be marketers. No one really tells us that in the beginning. The glamour
of being a published author and the seduction of an unstructured career from home (after
all, aren’t most writers introverted?) overshadow the fact that we must become masters at
selling our work. In fact, I’d speculate that if most aspiring writers realized how much
work was involved in getting published and marketing their work, the multitudes of
would-be writers would be whittled down to a brave few.

Who would have known that as authors, we’d have to take on so many different roles:
article writer, newsletter editor, discussion board moderator, online content publisher,
distance learning program developer, teleseminar conductor, webinar coordinator, radio
guest, television guest, magazine columnist, public speaker, seminar/workshop leader,
consultant, coach, product developer/manufacturer, promoter, conference attendant,
Internet radio host, blogger, specialty market seller, seed planter, grassroots marketer,
strategic partner, web marketer, etc. Indeed, the responsibilities of a successful author
are very diverse.

A plethora of marketing strategies abound that an author can implement to generate


additional exposure for his or her book. Some might seem perfect for your platform.
Others may not be applicable to your particular situation. Still others may simply not
appeal to you. To complicate matters, it may be difficult to track the effectiveness of
strategies you implement. (There are two exceptions to this rule: (1) accessing
BookScan, which is covered in “The Tools” section of this e-book, and (2) on the web,
savvy Internet marketers can unlock statistics on just about anything. For instance, when
you do a radio interview for Clear Channel, you can go to Amazon.com and observe the
sales ranking of your book rise.) Trying different strategies—virtually unguaranteed—is
the nature of the book business. Publishers fly blind, too. The only metrics they really

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have is book sales, and as you know or will soon discover, even these numbers can be
deceiving.

The Spark

Your efforts to promote and sell your book are, in effect, attempts to spark a flame by
hitting two rocks together. And at the heart of your book project is a bundle of TNT
explosives. Although these explosives are highly flammable, starting the fire by striking
two rocks together is a formidable task. If only you had the proverbial lighter fluid or
golden match!

Unfortunately, a secret match does not exist. If it did, there would be more bestsellers on
the market. Alas, the secret is in striking the stones together: Send out a new press
release. Smack! Do another radio interview. Bam! Get an article published in a major
magazine. Crack! Your book lands in the hands of an influential person. Wham!

And one day, God willing, your book makes it into the hands of Oprah Winfrey, Regis
Philbin, David Letterman, a CNN producer, or the right New York Times reporter and …
KABOOM!!!

“Overnight,” your book becomes a national bestseller, topping all of the lists. Barnes &
Noble dedicates an entire table to your book. Your book hits the top five on
Amazon.com and stays there. Book clubs order thousands of units. Magazine editors
reference it in their articles. Your book is translated into dozens of languages.
Publishing offers flood in for your next project. You’re asked to speak at universities and
conventions around the country. Bulk orders for your book are placed from different
organizations across varying industries. You reach celebrity status as the author of a
best-selling book.

And it was all from one spark. That one clash of two rocks created media frenzy and
launched you into stardom—creating a seemingly overnight success. But what went into

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creating that spark? From the outside, the success seemed “overnight” because of a “big
break”; the truth is very different. Shows like Behind the Music reveal that most
“overnight” success stories are the result of decades of work. The same is true for
authors: The path to success is often maniacal, painful, costly, and uncertain. Endless
hours, tens of thousands (possibly hundreds of thousands) of dollars, and unwavering
persistence can still yield dismal results. Sound promising?

You’ll often hear people on the “outside” suggest, “You know, you should go on Oprah.”
Or they’ll ask, “Why isn’t your book available in Wal-Mart? Or sold in bulk at Costco or
Sam’s Club?” These well-meaning, ignorant people aren’t aware that Oprah has nine
producers who field hundreds of thousand of queries annually, or that the decision
makers at Wal-Mart are unpublished, inundated, and usually unreachable. But don’t get
discouraged. A select few authors do, in fact, serendipitously find their way through the
labyrinth of gatekeepers to their “big break.”

Striking a Chord

Certain books simply resonate with a critical mass of people. These are the books
publishing houses generally take credit for marketing, even though there really isn’t any
“traditional marketing” driving sales. For example, Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code
(Doubleday, 2003) resonated with readers around the world. Before Brown’s book sold
ten million copies, you could find stacks of The Da Vinci Code in major bookstores like
Barnes & Noble and wholesale warehouses like Sam’s Club. You couldn’t walk through
a café without hearing at least one conversation about the book and its controversial
topic. The National Geographic Channel even did a documentary on the plausibility of
Brown’s account.

So what was the secret? What was Brown’s powerful marketing strategy? What did
Random House do to ensure The Da Vinci Code was the most talked-about book of the
year? Frankly, it’s inconsequential. There may have been a catalyst, a trigger that
ignited the sales flame, but sales were ultimately driven by buzz: the all-powerful, word-

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of-mouth marketing that can’t be bought or manufactured. (And if there’s a part of you
that thinks, Surely, there’s something more, consider Mr. Brown’s previous five books,
which didn’t generate the same sales.) And Mr. Brown’s “luck” doesn’t end there.
We’re likely to see an entirely new level of book sales via word of mouth when Columbia
Tristar releases the first trailer for the film.

What’s the lesson here? Write a book worth talking about. It doesn’t have to become an
international sensation; it can simply be a book that moves the reader to pass it on to a
coworker, friend, or family member.

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The Bestseller Lists

There are essentially nine major bestseller lists:

1. New York Times (8 main categories)


2. USA Today (top 150 books)
3. Publisher’s Weekly
4. Business Week
5. Wall Street Journal
6. San Francisco Chronicle
7. BookSense (independent book chains)
8. Amazon.com
9. Barnes & Noble Top 100

Of course, there are many other bestseller lists, and if you get on any of them, they can
become great promotional mediums for your book; after all, making any bestseller list
technically makes your book a “bestseller.” However, the lists above carry the most
weight within the book-buying community.

Note: Direct links to most of these bestseller lists can be found at the resource link
below.

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PLEASE NOTE:

The strategies discussed on the following pages are


implemented using many resources.

For a comprehensive list, visit:

www.BestSellingAuthor.com/resources

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THE STRATEGIES
The following 60 strategies are broken into four categories for convenience: platform
building, web marketing, publicity, and offline sales/marketing.

PLATFORM BUILDING

#1 - Draft Your Marketing Plan

Let’s start at the very beginning. Before you begin haphazardly trying to sell your book a
million different ways, it’s wise to invest some time and thought into cultivating a plan.
There’s a good chance that all the strategies you’ll need for marketing your book are—in
one way or another—contained within this e-book. So what do you need to do first?
Research. Here are a few of the distinctions you need to make:

• Clearly identify your target market and your secondary market. Who is most
likely to buy your book?
• Determine where to find them. What publications do they subscribe to? What
networking events do they attend? What websites do they frequent?
• Identify the competition. It’s helpful to know what else is out there, and there’s
a good chance, especially if your book is published, that you’ve already scoped
out the competition. But dig a little deeper and do a little more research and
reconnaissance: What are the best-selling books in your genre? Who are the top
experts? What are their websites? (Find the related websites; read their copy and
bookmark them.)
• Craft your positioning statement. Your positioning statement is usually a single
sentence that clearly states what you do, who you serve, and how you’re different.
[If you’re interested in reading more about positioning, you can start with Al Ries
and Jack Trout’s classic, Positioning (McGraw-Hill, 2000).]

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• Develop your strategy. From the above, compile a detailed list of all appropriate
mediums to target, including magazines, newspapers, websites, experts,
conferences, events, etc.

This process should lead you to important distinctions on how to most effectively
position your book with your target audience:

• What needs do they have?


• Why will they buy your book and other services?
• What makes you and your book different or unique?
• What solutions are you proposing?
• What’s the best way to package your pitch?
• What’s the best “voice” to communicate with?

It’s not necessary for you to view other experts in your field as enemies or even
competitors. Instead, consider them as colleagues and potential allies. The purpose of
uncovering your positioning statement is merely to highlight your book’s uniqueness in a
crowded marketplace.

Next, what’s your budget? There’s no need to get too precise here, but you need a
general idea of what things are going to cost so you can prioritize what needs to be done
and when. Here are some of the expenses involved in building your platform:

• Website (and all related technologies)


• Media kit
• Speaker’s kit
• Manufacturing new product
• Other promotional material
• Packing supplies and shipping expenses
• Business cards and letterhead

Finally, determine your “launch” strategy. (What are the top five strategies you’re going
to focus on over the next ninety days?) Then go at it with voracity!

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#2 - Submit Articles for Publication

Published articles are a terrific way to build your platform. They can introduce a large
number of people to your work, directing the readership to you via a contact line at the
end of the article. The process for getting an article published is similar to getting a book
published (but less involved). You’ll need to craft a compelling query letter (comparable
to your book proposal) targeted to specific magazine editors. Most magazines have
different formats for article submissions. These guidelines are generally found on their
websites.

Tips on writing an article that makes it to press:

• Be concise and descriptive.


• Create titles that will grab the reader’s attention.
• Explore the unexplored—make your article as fresh and unique as you can.
• Work to create relationships with magazine editors in your market. Find out what
they need/want and do your best to serve them.

Marcia Yudkin has a number of useful articles and resources for getting started:
www.yudkin.com/publish.htm

Also check out: http://www.bookzonepro.com/insights/articles/query.html

#3 - Become a Magazine or Newspaper Columnist

A column gives you a continuous platform for communicating with your target audience
(and the “about” section at the bottom of your column will promote your book). Sure,
this is no easy feat. Or is it? If you’re a business writer, getting a column in Fast
Company magazine may be difficult, but you may be able to find a local or regional
publication that would be honored to have your contribution. Start by building a
relationship with the publication editor. Submit a few article queries to him. Do some

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research to help determine a great column topic that will serve the publication (which, it
just so happens, you can write). Then pitch your idea.

Become a Reporter: Considering the above strategy, let’s say there isn’t enough
compelling information to write about on an ongoing basis (even though you’ve written a
book on your subject ☺). Interviewing other authors, experts and industry leaders is a
terrific way to develop new content, discover unique insights, and perhaps more
importantly, gain access to people who may have been unreachable before. Moreover, it
may be easier for you to sell a magazine editor on an article about a higher-profile
author/expert than to pitch yourself.

#4 - Create a Results-Driven Author Website

Anyone and everyone has a website these days, but how many of them are actually
serving the artist’s platform? A comprehensive look at this topic is beyond the scope of
this book; however, you need to at least be aware of the purpose of your website in the
first place. Here are a few probable results you’re after:

• Sell more books


• Communicate with more people (i.e., build your mailing list)
• Facilitate more media opportunities
• Generate more speaking engagements

Be sure that your website is serving your objectives. Here are six great ways to drive
traffic to your website (each strategy is covered in detail within this e-book):

1) Email Marketing
2) Article Submissions
3) Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
4) Pay-per-click Advertising (PPC)
5) Strategic Alliances
6) Affiliate Marketing

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Constructing your author website is covered in greater detail in the following section
titled “The Tools.” If you’re looking for a team to help you put together a results-driven
author website at an affordable price, check out www.artistsystems.com.

#5 - Create a Content-Driven Website

This strategy supports the objective(s) of your author website. Depending on your area
of expertise, you can create a “destination” website filled with articles and useful
information for those interested in your topic. Developing great content takes work. It
requires continuously generating new and helpful ideas as well as more technical
prowess. The idea is to get readers to keep coming back to your site and to consider you
as a resource for solving their key frustrations. Once they’re on your site, you can
promote your book and other products in subtle (and not-so-subtle) ways.

For examples of content-driven websites, check out:

• Nick Usborne’s www.excessvoice.com


• Marcia Yudkin’s www.yudkin.com/publish.htm
• Joe Vitale’s www.mrfire.com
• John Kremer’s www.bookmarket.com

Each of these sites contains articles, newsletters, reviews, and other resources compiled
by the author. An alternative strategy is to create a destination site that pools articles and
resources from a variety of related authors and experts, allowing you to build your
platform, align with your peers, and create new opportunities.

For example, let’s say you’re a business-marketing expert. Instead of creating a site to
revolve around you and your services/products (which you can do as well), develop an
Internet business like MarketingProfs.com: www.marketingprofs.com.

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#6 - Become a Resource for Resources

Aligned with the above strategy, you can develop a directory of contacts for your field.
This will take a great deal of time and effort, but the rewards can be extraordinary. For
example, literary agent Jeff Herman has authored several books, one of which is the
perennial Jeff Herman’s Guide to Book Publishers, Editors & Literary Agents (Writers
Inc, 2003). This continually-updated 900-plus-page tomb of information can be
promoted and marketed by all the publishers, editors, and literary agents in the book,
while further establishing Jeff Herman as an authority in his field.

Talane Miedaner, life coach and author of Coach Yourself to Success (McGraw-Hill,
2000), is an unabashed self-promoter, offering monthly courses through the Learning
Annex and conducting training courses for Coach University. She realized that many of
the coaches she trained were introverted and had no interest in being in front of an
audience—they preferred a one-on-one environment over the phone. Considering this,
she created the Talane Coaching Company (www.talane.com) where she became the
infrastructure and sales force for her team of coaches. She also established an online
directory to help coaches connect with potential clients: www.lifecoach.com.

#7 - Develop Your Keynote Address(es)

If you’re not already speaking publicly, why not? (Other than you may loathe the idea …
☺) Public speaking reinforces your “expert” status while making you more accessible to
potential clients (for consulting and/or coaching). The more times you are in front of the
room, the more books you will sell at the back of the room. Furthermore, for many
authors, speaking engagements and consulting fees account for the majority of their
income. Your book is the ultimate “brochure”—your gateway to an infinite number of
new opportunities.

Your keynote speech usually centers on the core topic of your book. If you’re a frequent
speaker, you’ll most likely develop several speeches so that event planners and speakers
bureaus (below) have more to work with.

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There are a number of books on how to build your speaking career. Perhaps the most
well-known is Dottie Walters’s Speak and Grow Rich (Prentice Hall Press, 1997). If
you’re going to incorporate a PowerPoint presentation into your speeches, I highly
recommend picking up Seth Godin’s e-book, Really Bad PowerPoint (Do You Zoom,
Inc, 2001). It’s short, concise, and thoughtful. You can order it at www.sethgodin.com
(click on “Books”) or you can get it for free when you purchase Godin’s new book, Free
Prize Inside (Portfolio, 2004): www.freeprizeinside.com.

#8 - Speak Locally

For some authors, the prospect of public speaking is daunting, if not immobilizing. It
may be useful for you to get your feet wet speaking in your local community first. You
can speak for free at your local chamber of commerce, Rotary Club, and even the public
school system. You’ll be amazed how being a published author can open up
opportunities … if you’ll go after them.

If you’re unaccustomed to speaking in front of an audience, you may want to take a


public speaking course, such as those offered at www.dalecarnegie.com (click on
“Training for Individuals”), and definitely consider picking up Terry Pearce’s book
Leading Out Loud (Jossey-Bass, 2003).

#9 - Develop a Seminar Platform

You can develop a hands-on workshop that guides people through your area of expertise.
(These workshops and training seminars can be conducted over three hours, a half day, a
full day, a weekend retreat, etc.)

Let’s say you’ve written a book on how to create the most aerodynamic paper airplanes.
Naturally, before you wrote this book, your market research demonstrated that there was
a substantial market for this how-to information. Now you can develop a workshop to
instruct a group of people on the intricacies of paper airplane development. One strategy
could be to target individuals (priced per person) by hosting your own venue: Rent a

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meeting room (like a hotel conference room) and promote the event on your own. As
you might imagine, this can turn into a substantial undertaking.

Another approach is to develop workshops for small or large businesses. Market these
workshops directly to prospective businesses, who essentially hire you to present at a flat
rate (similar to a speaker’s fee).

Note: “Seminar” and “workshop” are generally used interchangeably, although


“workshop” tends to imply a more hands-on experience.

#10 - Teach a Course Through The Learning Annex

If your book and area of expertise are better suited for groups of individuals (meaning,
not businesses), you may find yourself contemplating ways to attract your market to your
venues. This can be tricky: you need to secure a location, anticipate the number of
attendees, and promote the event like crazy to fill the room. The upfront costs and risk
can be enormous.

Depending on where you live, you may have access to organizations that can help. The
Learning Annex, for example, organizes classes in Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis,
New Jersey, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Connecticut, Calgary,
Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver, and brings in workshops that
appeal to its grassroots base. Their monthly magazine/catalog is distributed to over 2.5
million people, so the exposure is very valuable. They assume the financial liability for
the venue and promotional expenses for your event, and in return, they make an
arrangement with you to split the ticket sales. If you’re not a big-name celebrity, The
Learning Annex will generally pay you 20% of the gate fee, meaning they receive 80% of
the total revenue generated from the seminar. You’ll also receive exposure to a
“qualified” market well suited for your platform and the opportunity to capitalize on
BOTR sales. Considering the expenses involved in setting up and promoting these events,
this arrangement isn’t outrageous. Plus, you’re still able to sell your products (and keep
all the revenue from those sales).

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To learn more about their criteria and submission guidelines, go to


www.learningannex.com (click on “About Us” and then “Teach for Us”).

You can also check out:

• Omega Institute: www.eomega.org


• New York Open Center: www.opencenter.org
• Chicago’s Discovery Center: www.discoverycenter.cc
• Colorado Free University: www.freeu.com/
• Seattle’s Discover U: www.discoveru.org
• Orlando’s The Knowledge Shop: www.metrodirect.net/ks.htm

If you live in or in proximity to a large city, there’s a good chance a similar organization
exists.

#11 - Build a Consulting and/or Training Business

Your book is your ultimate brochure—a gateway to new clients and larger speaking fees
(authors can generally demand a higher fee—perceived value). A consulting practice
integrated into your overall book marketing game plan can be very effective. Make sure
you’ve clearly identified your target market and clearly addressed their needs (and how
you can help them) in all your communications. A consulting or training business can
feature one consultant—you—or can be developed into a thriving enterprise that
leverages your brand equity in the market.

Many successful authors have developed wildly prosperous training and consulting
businesses:

• Tom Peters Company: http://www.tompeters.com/


• The Ken Blanchard Companies: www.kenblanchard.com
• Michael Gerber’s E-Myth Worldwide: www.emyth.com
• FrankinCovey (from Stephen Covey): www.franklincovey.com
• The Rich Dad Company: www.richdad.com

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#12 - Build a Coaching Practice

Consulting differs from coaching in many ways (although the terms are interchanged
rather flippantly). A consultant is more likely to take a hands-on approach with a client,
offering specific deliverables based on the client’s need (whereas a coach more closely
resembles a mentor, counselor, or therapist).

The field of coaching has grown rapidly over the last decade. There are now several
certification and training agencies, such as Coach University and The Coaches Training
Institute. It’s not critical for you to be “certified” to serve as a coach; however, you may
find the education beneficial.

One-on-one coaching via the phone allows you to work from home and manage your own
schedule, serving clients anywhere on the planet! You can schedule coaching sessions
monthly, bimonthly, three times per month, etc., depending upon the nature of your
coaching practice and your area of expertise. Coaching sessions can last anywhere from
25 minutes to an hour (calls less than 25 minutes may barely scratch the surface). Over
an hour and you may end up with a therapy session. If you have a synergistic
relationship with your clients, and you are both committed to constant growth and
development, the relationship can last for many years. Pricing is determined by your
field, specialization or expertise, and your professional status in your market. Business
coaches usually charge more than “life” coaches. Monthly coaching fees range from
$75/session to $1,000+ per month. Based on your area of expertise, you may be able to
create a niche and offer something that’s very difficult, if not impossible, to duplicate.

The primary way of generating clients in the coaching field is through referrals. Working
hard to produce results and provide massive value for your clients is the best way to grow
your business.

Here are several useful resources on coaching:

• Coach U: www.coachinc.com (coach training)


• The Coaches Training Institute: www.thecoaches.com (coach training)

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• Coachville: www.coachville.com (online coaching community with over 40,000


members in 139 countries)
• International Coach Federation: www.coachfederation.org (professional
association of coaches)

#13 - Target Local Businesses

If you’re a professional public speaker and/or a business expert, you can develop a
strategy that targets local businesses. (Of course, if you live in a smaller town, you’ll
probably target the nearest big city.)

First, compile a list of the top 100 businesses in your area that meet your criteria. Next,
craft a compelling sales letter that introduces you, your area of specialization, their likely
key frustrations, and how you can help. Be sure to personalize each letter and include a
copy of your book. If you think this is too expensive, consider this: CEOs and small
business owners get tons of mail. How often do they receive a book? Do you think this
might distinguish you from the rest of the “junk mail” cluttering their mailboxes?

Call or email to confirm that each received the package. Essentially, you’re “planting
seeds.” These business owners may not need your service(s) right now, but if/when they
do in the future, there’s a greater chance they’ll call you. As you develop new products
and opportunities (like a new audio program, for example), be sure to send it to them.
This list of executives becomes part of your “VIP list” (see below).

#14 - Retain the Services of Speakers Bureaus

Many authors/speakers view speakers bureaus like banks: when you need money, you
can’t get it, but when you have enough, they’re offering you credit. Speakers bureaus
probably won’t be much help if you’re just getting started; however, once you’ve built
some momentum (and you have a professional-looking speaking kit, a demo video, and
you’re making at least $2,500 per engagement), the bureaus may become a valuable
resource. Many bureaus prefer exclusive relationships with their speakers; this isn’t

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inherently “bad,” but be sure the bureau can actually get you booked and keep you as
busy as you want to be. (As the saying goes, if you’re going to put all your eggs in one
basket, be sure no one can kick over that basket … or something like that.)

For a list of speakers bureaus, go to www.bestsellingauthor.com/resources and click


“Speak Publicly.” Here are a few quick resources:

• National Speakers Association: www.nsaspeaker.org


• Toastmasters International: www.toastmasters.org

#15 - Develop a “Wowing” Speaker’s Kit

If you’re going to be speaking or presenting publicly, you’ll need a speaker’s kit. The
quality of this kit in terms of thought, positioning, and presentation is a crucial
component to generating speaking opportunities and negotiating your engagement fee.
The speaker’s kit is the primary tool your bureau or booking agent will use to generate
new opportunities. It is also a powerful tool for approaching small business owners and
other potential audiences. For more information on developing your speaker’s kit, refer
to the section below entitled “The Tools.”

For an excellent speaker’s kit example, go to Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba’s website
and download their kit for “Creating Customer Evangelists”:
www.creatingcustomerevangelists.com/speaking/ [click on “Speak kit (pdf)”].

A terrific resource for helping you put together your speaker’s kit is Artist Management
Systems: www.artistsystems.com.

#16 - Maneuver into Your Own Media Platform

“Maneuver” may sound like a strange word here, but you’ll need some serendipitous
maneuvering to become a talk show host, news reporter, radio host, newspaper columnist,
or other high-profile position. If you pull it off, your publisher will love you and you’ll

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likely sell more books. (In fact, publishers are trending toward celebrity book deals—the
visibility of celebrities typically creates a greater chance for success in today’s
competitive marketplace.)

#17 - Become an Internet Radio Talk Show Host

This strategy presents a more feasible opportunity for developing a media platform
because basically, anyone can host his or her own talk show. The value of this strategy is
in gaining more credibility. Although you’re not getting drive-time traffic, you can carve
a niche for yourself by having guests on your show that your audience wants to hear. The
great thing about an Internet radio show is that it doesn’t really matter if many people
tune in while the show is live—you can stream the interview on your site, providing
access at your audience’s convenience.

For example, BeyondTheOrdinary.Net interviews a wide range of authors each month,


including guests like quantum physicist Amit Goswami. I receive an email from
BeyondTheOrdinary.net each week with a direct link to the interviews I’m interested in.
I go to the site, click on the audio file, and listen at my convenience. I’m not sure when
the interviews are initially conducted, but it’s inconsequential.

This strategy enables you to approach and build relationships with authors and experts
that may have been inaccessible to you; plus, you keep your audience coming back to
your site with new content each week! For more examples, check out
www.beyondtheordinary.net and Dr. Pat Baccili’s www.crustbusting.com.

For resources on becoming a talk-show host:

• wsRadio.com: www.wsradio.com/host_wanted.htm
• Voice America: www.voiceamerica.com/voice/index.htm

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#18 - Generate Testimonials and Endorsements

This may seem simplistic, but it’s important. Testimonials sell books, because others’
recommendations give your book—and you—more credibility. Whenever you’re
interacting with a fan, a customer, or a client, condition yourself to ask for a testimonial
(assuming he or she had a satisfactory experience, of course). Testimonials or
endorsements are valuable sales tools that should be positioned on all your promotional
mediums: your website, media kit, speaker’s kit, and any other promotional literature.
Be sure to capture each individual’s full name, city/state, and title/company (if
appropriate).

You can make it easy for readers to submit book testimonials on your website by creating
a “Submit Review” online submission form that asks for a full name, city/state, and
title/company, along with an area where they can write their messages, followed by a
“Submit” button. Their reviews can automatically be sent to a predetermined email
address.

For an example, go to: www.andyandrews.com/contact/feedback.php or


www.sethgodin.com/ideavirus/01-discuss.html.

#19 - Craft an e-Book

E-books and “Special Reports” can be used in a number of ways. If you have timely,
market-specific information that addresses your audience’s key frustrations, you may be
able to create a landing page (a variation of the traditional website) and sell your product
online. (Outlining the strategies for implementing this successfully is beyond the scope
of this book, but there are examples all over the web—www.bestsellingauthor.com is one
of them.)

E-books can also be presented as a “free gift” for people who subscribe to your mailing
list or visit your site, respond to a survey, etc. For consultants/coaches, e-books can serve
as a “brochure” to showcase and sell their services. Finally, if you use pay-per-click

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services like Google Adwords (covered below), you can promote your free e-book as part
of your campaign to drive traffic to your site.

For more information on how to create and sell your e-book, check out:
www.7daye-book.com.

#20 - Create a “Live” Audio/Video Product

Between 10 and 15% of your audience will come ready to buy what you’re selling. As
your platform evolves, you’ll need to be constantly developing new, insightful, value-
added products to “feed the frenzy.”

What else can you sell besides your book? There are lots of different product ideas in
this e-book, but one of the easiest things to do is to professionally record one of your
speaking engagements and have it edited and packaged as your first audio product.

Also, a single “lecture” CD can be created in your home and manufactured on a relatively
inexpensive budget (one device that can be used for home recording is Sony’s Net MD
Walkman MZ-NF810—make sure it has a microphone jack). You can convert the audio
file into digital format (like an .mp3) and stream it on your website. If the content is
unique and highly-specific, you can even sell it!

#21 - Develop an Audio Program Through Nightingale-Conant

Nightingale-Conant is the largest publisher of motivational and educational audio


programs in the world, with over two million customers. Nightingale-Conant currently
publishes and/or distributes more than 150 authors and over 1,400 titles in six key areas:
Personal Development; Business Strategy; Sales and Marketing; Wealth Building; Skills
and Learning; and Mind, Body, Spirit. All-stars like Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra, Brian
Tracy, Dennis Waitley, Tony Robbins, Jim Rohn, and Tom Peters all have multiple
product offerings through Nightingale-Conant. A deal with Nightingale will give you

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lots of additional exposure through their catalogs, promotional mailings, and website, in
addition to further solidifying your “expert status.”

Go to www.nightingale.com, click on “Customer Service,” and look for “Submission


Guidelines” under the “New Product Development” section.

#22 - Develop Market-Specific Merchandise

Your book establishes you as an expert in your field. Now you need to continually figure
out more ways to improve people’s lives with the knowledge you have acquired. Get
creative. Don’t just think mugs and T-shirts—what can you create or put your name on
that would enhance your brand image? What ancillary products are aligned with your
platform?

For some ancillary product examples:

• Gary Ryan Blair, otherwise known as “The Goals Guy,” created the Goal Setting
Countdown Clock: www.goalsguy.com.
• Author and productivity-and-efficiency expert David Allen developed a software
program (and a separate instructional manual) that interfaces with Outlook to
help you manage your emails more efficiently: www.davidco.com.
• Personal development guru Tony Robbins developed a software program called
“Results Planning Method” to help you manage your time and ultimately your
life based on his audio program, A Time of Your Life. Check it out at:
www.anthonyrobbins.com/rpm.
• Robert Kiyosaki, financial expert and author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad (Warner
Business Books, 2000), produced a popular educational board game called
Cashflow 101: www.richdad.com.

If you’ve already developed a platform, a new product release provides an ideal


opportunity to schedule interviews, submit articles, develop new promotions, send the

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news to your email list, promote it at your speaking engagements, and send the new
merchandise to your “VIPs.”

#23 - Publish Another Book

Once you’ve established yourself as an expert or talent in a particular area, a great way to
generating additional sales on your first book is to publish a second. (Of course, this
assumes you have exhausted every marketing strategy for your first book project). The
second time around, you will have a warmer market, a better understanding of the
industry, and a working knowledge of strategies that work for you.

To help you determine the subject of your next book, consider what specialized markets
might be interested in your platform. For example, after The Monks of New Skete wrote
How to Be Your Dog’s Best Friend (Little, Brown, 2002—Revised Edition), which has
sold over 500,000 copies, they went on to write The Art of Raising a Puppy (Little,
Brown, 1991).

And you never know—your second book might achieve more success than your first.
After the sales of John Grisham’s first novel, A Time to Kill, tanked, the publisher refused
to publish his next book. Grisham’s second novel, The Firm (published by Dell) hit #1
on the New York Times bestseller list, with Tom Cruise playing the leading role in the
film version. Following The Firm’s extraordinary success, A Time to Kill moved onto the
New York Times bestseller list as well.

Understand the “New Factor”: Our society is obsessed with the latest, newest thing.
This pining for new products and new packaging seems to be wired into the human
condition—especially the post–baby boomer generation. This helps explain why a new
book or product can be more easily promoted through the media and why publishers
jump when an author achieves notable success, extracting as many books and ancillary
variations of the successful book as possible in order to ride the “new wave” to
profitability.

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#24 - Build an Empire

Building an empire may sound overly ambitious, but it’s certainly possible. It has been
said that in order to “get big,” one has to think big. Below are a few authors that have
created their own revolutions. Each author listed below has used different strategies to
grow their platforms, but they all relentlessly pursued the potential of their dynasties:
radio interviews, television appearances, speaking engagements, writing more books,
producing more audio programs, developing creative products—whatever it took to build
their enterprises. And none of them are stopping—they continue to build their platforms,
because they are driven to do so—it is a fundamental part of who and what they are.
Take a look at what they’ve created. Read through their websites; inspect their books,
products, and services. See what ideas pop into your head.

Robert Kiyosaki, “Rich Dad”: Mr. Kiyosaki has developed an impressive empire with
over 20 books within the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series [Rich Dad, Poor Dad (Warner
Business Books, 2000), the flagship book, has sold over 20 million copies and spent over
200 weeks on the NYT bestseller list]. He has even developed teams of professionals
that leverage the Rich Dad brand, giving seminars, coaching, and training across the
globe. Check out: www.richdad.com.

Ken Blanchard, “One Minute Manager”: Coauthor of The One Minute Manager
(William Morrow & Company, 1983) with over 17 million sold, Mr. Blanchard has
developed a highly successful training and development enterprise around the success of
his 30-plus business books. Check out: www.kenblanchard.com.

Stephen Covey, “Seven Habits”: Mr. Covey’s Covey Leadership Centers generated
over $100 million leveraging his books, The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People
(Free Press, 1990) and Principle-Centered Leadership (Free Press, 1992) as their
brochures before merging with Franklin Quest to create Franklin Covey Company.
Check out: www.franklincovey.com.

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Tom Peters, In Search of Excellence: Since the former McKenzie consultant


coauthored In Search of Excellence (Warner Books, 1998) in the early ’80s, he’s become
a celebrity, authoring books, producing audio programs with Nightingale-Conant,
commanding speaking fees of over $60,000, acting in commercials, and operating a
monster consulting firm. Explore at: www.tompeters.com.

Deepak Chopra, “Seven Spiritual Laws”: Combining Ayurvedic medicine,


spirituality, and his formal medical training, Dr. Chopra has authored more than 35 books
and 100 audio, video, and CD-ROM titles (which have been translated into 35 languages
with over 20 million copies sold). Dr Chopra speaks worldwide and has leveraged his
brand to build the Chopra Center for Well-Being and his own line of herbal teas,
supplements, and oils. (His enterprises bring in more than $15 million per year.) Check
him out at: www.chopra.com.

Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, “Chicken Soup for the Soul”: With over 90
million Chicken Soup for the Soul books sold in North America alone and over 100
licensed products in the marketplace, Chicken Soup for the Soul is one of the most
successful publishing franchises of our time. Check out: www.markvictorhansen.com
and www.jackcanfield.com

Tony Robbins, “Personal Power”: The “late-night infomercial king” has definitely
created an extraordinary empire, with two international best-selling books, over a dozen
audio programs, and a seminar business that generates $50 million annually. Check out:
www.tonyrobbins.com

John Gray, “Mars & Venus”: Dr Gray has sold over 30 million copies of his
relationship classic, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus (HarperCollins
Publishers, 1992), and has written 14 follow-up books. Mr. Gray also provides
counseling and coaching; produces audio programs on relationships and the differences
between men and women; is an international, in-demand speaker; and has a team of
moderators that facilitate seminars nationwide. Check out: www.marsvenus.com

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WEB MARKETING

#25 - Launch an e-newsletter

It seems most authors already have either an e-newsletter (sometimes called e-zine) or an
online mailing list that allows them to communicate with their market. That’s a good
strategy that is sometimes hampered by all the spam filters we have. Our tolerance for
email that doesn’t look familiar has decreased, and we’re quick to either delete an email
or “Send to Junk Mail” in Outlook. Besides learning more about how the spam filters
work, you can use a resource called “E-zine Check” to see how the spam filters will
respond to your message: www.e-zinecheck.com.

Also, make sure that your email-management software will track at least two metrics on
outgoing emails: the open rate and click-throughs. The open rate will tell you how many
people actually open your email. You may have 10,000 people in your database, but if
only 200 people are opening your email messages, you probably should know that. The
click-through rate will tell you how many people are actually taking action on your
message. If you’re promoting a new book release, for example, you can track how many
people click on your link to get to your Amazon.com book page (via your affiliate link).

Here are a few more guidelines:

• Respect people’s time. Don’t bombard them with emails. Weekly emails at the
most, but twice a month or monthly is preferred.
• Be concise. A general rule of thumb is to keep your message to 500 words or
less. Remember, people are busy!
• Be professional. Sending an email from an AOL account is a sure indicator that
you lack experience and guarantees a number of headaches. Use proper email
management software for sending emails to large numbers of people (see the
Resource section for a list of programs/companies).

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• Make your emails look as visually appealing as possible. This doesn’t mean
you have to use HTML with graphics, but it definitely can add an extra level of
professionalism.
• Use engaging, thoughtful words. Make your messages so useful and easy-to-
read that people will forward your emails to others.
• Post an archive of all your newsletters on your website, and include “tell-a-
friend” functionality (Strategy #27) with each message. Alternatively, publish
each e-newsletter in your blog (Strategy #26) so that all your new subscribers can
access your prior messages.
• State your privacy policy up front and adhere to every word—never, under
any circumstances, should you sell, rent, or give your subscribers’ email addresses
to anyone. Your privacy policy could say something like: “Email addresses and
other personal information will never be sold, rented, or otherwise disclosed. This
mailing list is password-protected and is only used for one-way announcements
from Scott Jeffrey. No spam. No discussions.”

For a list of email software programs, go to www.bestsellingauthor.com/resources and


click on the “Market Your Book on the Web” section. Also, if you’re looking for a great
source of information on e-zines, check out: www.emailuniverse.com.

#26 - Be a Blogger

Blogging is the latest trend on the web (even though it’s been around awhile). A blog
(from “web log”) is essentially an online publishing tool, like a web-based journal, that
provides a forum for you to communicate with your audience. Your blog can be its own
website (hosted by the many blog services online) or integrated into your existing
website. Its functionality is fairly simple: You write a message and post it to your blog,
with the most recent message conveniently appearing at the top. Blogging is a useful tool
for communicating with your readers, but it may not be the best vehicle if you don’t
already have a subscriber base.

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There are numerous blogging services on the web (a comprehensive list can be found at
www.bestsellingauthor.com under “Market Your Book on the Web”), with the most
widely used blogging tool being Google’s free and easy-to-use Blogger
(www.blogger.com). Just follow the three easy start-up steps and you can have your blog
up and running in under five minutes. A blog can also replace an e-newsletter: post a
new message to your blog and send a simple email to your subscribers letting them know
that your blog has been updated. This can be a very effective strategy for circumventing
spam software.

#27 - Add “Tell-a-Friend” Functionality

The concept is simple: when someone comes to your website and finds something he
likes, you want to make it as easy as possible for him to share it with his family, friends,
and associates. “Tell-a-Friend” functionality is the easiest way to do this. There’s
nothing better than having someone else endorse and promote you. Be sure to include a
“from” field for the person’s name and email address so the recipient knows the message
is from his friend (and not spam from you). Also make sure that you have your privacy
policy posted to help put your potential advocate at ease. (A simple “We Value Your
Privacy” with a link to your privacy statement is all you need.)

For an excellent example of this functionality, go to: www.ideavirus.com and click on


“Send it.”

#28 - Utilize Autoresponders

Autoresponders are programmed messages that automatically respond to preset criteria.


For example, when someone signs up for your mailing list, as soon as he or she hits
“Submit,” you can have an autoresponder send the subscriber a welcome message. More
sophisticated autoresponders can be created, like a five-day e-course. When someone
signs up for your e-course, he receives his first message. The program knows to send out
the next message on the following day, etc. Obviously, you can’t personally respond to

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or acknowledge every request or every action a visitor takes on your website; however,
autoresponders enable you to give your customer/reader more confidence in your
offerings, and they also provide you with an additional marketing tool (your
autoresponders can direct your subscribers to special offers, etc.)

Many email software programs have autoresponder capability built into them. You can
find a list of these programs at www.bestsellingauthor.com/resources, or you can use a
stand-alone product like www.proautoresponder.com.

#29 - Leverage Amazon.com’s Marketplace and eBay

Would you like Amazon.com and eBay to promote your product for you? They can. Set
up accounts with eBay and Amazon.com’s Marketplace and sell your books and other
products through them. How does that help you? Try this: go to www.google.com, type
in your favorite author’s name in quotes, and click “Search.” There’s a good chance
you’ll see a bunch of little ads appear in the right column (called “Google Adwords”—
covered below). There’s also a good chance you’ll see Amazon or eBay promoting that
author’s work. The only cost for setting up these accounts is your time. Your work gains
greater credibility, and you may sell more product.

• Amazon.com’s Marketplace: www.amazon.com (go to “Sell Items” at the bottom


of the page; then click on “Marketplace” toward the top.)
• eBay: www.ebay.com (click on “Sell” in the top horizontal navigation bar.)

#30 - Solicit Amazon.com Customer Book Reviews

When someone goes to Amazon.com to buy a book, what does that shopper look for? A
low price? The book description? Research shows that price is not generally the
deciding factor. Obviously, the book description is important to help a potential reader
determine if this book is what he or she is looking for. But a more important factor in
influencing a purchase is the reader reviews (as well as the sales ranking, but we’ll cover
that in another strategy below). Amazon has a very unique competitive advantage,

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because they’ve developed a serious community of readers who talk about books—for
good and for bad. Although you can’t control what people say in these reviews, you can
encourage your colleagues who have expressed sincere interest and appreciation for your
book to submit a review on your Amazon.com book page. It’s very easy to write a
review (one only needs an account with Amazon). Random readers that have enjoyed
your book may be apprehensive to submit the first review, so have a few associates
submit their reviews ASAP.

PROMOTIONAL NOTE: Before you send any promotional emails for your
Amazon.com book (to your list or a strategic partner), be sure to have as many reviews as
possible posted on your Amazon.com book page.

#31 - Online Content Submission

If the Internet is good for anything, it’s for finding information. Pick a topic, do a search,
and you’ll probably be overwhelmed with results. Most searches will uncover at least a
few fantastic websites that contain a wellspring of information. Do you know what
content-rich sites your target market frequents? You need to, because these websites
might welcome your submissions. Submission guidelines are typically posted. Look for
“Content Submissions” or something similar.

The key component for these submissions (besides riveting, information-rich content ☺)
is the signature line, your opportunity to tell your audience where to find more
information on you and your platform. For example, “Scott Jeffrey is an author coach
and the developer of the Become a Best-Selling Author audio program. Learn more at
www.CreativeCrayon.com.” Always be sure to include contact information in the form of
an email, phone number, and/or web address.

For a list of terrific sites for content submission, go to the following web address:
www.bestsellingauthor.com/resources. Click on “Market Your Book on the Web.”

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#32 - Create Strategic Alliances with Other Authors

This strategy can obviously be accomplished both on- and off-line; however, strategic
partnerships lend themselves well to the Internet. Let’s say you have a mailing list with
5,000 subscribers who enjoy reading your monthly musings about “Marketing for Small
Businesses” (which, incidentally, is the topic of your book). If you know another
author/expert in your field that has a subscriber base of, say, 10,000, you can send out
emails that introduce your subscribers to this partner. It’s important that you never give
your mailing list to anyone—always adhere to a strict privacy policy in order to build
trust with your audience. These cross-promotional opportunities can be created
continuously and can be an effective way to grow your mailing list.

#33 - Master Pay-Per-Click Advertising

Generally speaking, traditional advertising isn’t fruitful for promoting books/authors,


with one exception: pay-per-click advertising (PPC). You may think you’re unfamiliar
with PPC services, but you’ve probably seen them. Most searches you conduct on
www.google.com, for example, yield a series of small, boxed, two-line ads associated
with the keyword(s) you entered at the top of the search page. You can use PPC services
to drive new visitors to sign up for your mailing list, download a new e-book, order your
latest book, etc. Google’s program is called Adwords, and it enables you to display your
ads when specific keywords you specify in advance are queried. The best part about this
highly-targeted form of advertising is that it’s performance-based—you only pay when
someone clicks on your ad (hence, “pay-per-click”). Where your ad shows up on
Google’s search page (if it shows up at all) is based on a bidding system. You control
how much you’re willing to pay for each new visitor to your site, and you can control
how much you spend per day. You can set a $2 limit, a $5 limit, or a $5,000 limit … it’s
up to you. Creating effective campaigns with the right keywords takes time, practice, and
some trial and error.

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Learn more about some popular PPC programs:

• Google’s Adword: www.google.com/ads/


• Overture.com: www.overture.com
• Findwhat.com: www.findwhat.com.

#34 - Conduct Search Engine Optimization

Perhaps the most technical of book/author marketing strategies is the coveted Search
Engine Optimization (SEO). When you enter a search into your favorite search engine,
what sites come up on the first page? These companies are doing something right. An e-
commerce company that sells baby gifts, for example, can increase their traffic by
ensuring that their site comes up within the top five sites in the major search engines for
the keyword “baby gift.”

SEO is a big business, and there are a number of specialists whose sole objective is to
help your site list closer to the top of the rankings. Each search engine has logarithmic
search parameters that change often, and these experts use specialized jargon like “meta-
tags,” “spidering,” “linksharing,” etc. A non-technical person would do well to seek out
help. (Beware: the top SEO experts can be very pricey, and those that aren’t may not
have the expertise to deliver.)

One simple thing any author can do is begin linksharing—posting another website’s link
on your site in exchange for them posting your link on theirs. You’ll only want to
linkshare with sites that target the same or similar market (i.e. sites that would be relevant
to your visitors). Many search engines determine your ranking based on the number of
relevant websites that are linked to particular keywords. For an example and further
explanation, check out: www.mrfire.com/linktomrfire.html.

For a terrific series of articles on SEO, visit copywriter Nick Usborne’s website at
www.excessvoice.com and click on “SEO Articles” in the left-hand menu. Also check
out: www.seoresearchlabs.com

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#35 - Enhance Your Website Conversion Rates

This is possibly the most undervalued component of any web strategy. Essentially, your
conversion rates reveal the number of visitors who are actually taking the action you want
them to. For example, let’s say one of your objectives is to compel new visitors to sign
up for your mailing list/newsletter on your homepage. Your conversion rate is the
number of people who sign up for your newsletter over a specified timeframe divided by
the number of unique visitors to your homepage during that timeframe (this process is
called data mining). So if in one month, 100 people joined your mailing list and 10,000
visitors came to your site, your conversion rate for subscribers would be 1%. Knowing
this metric, you make one change at a time to your site and see if that conversion rate
goes up or down. Basic web logs can be used for some of this data mining, but if you
want to really get involved in conversion enhancement, you’ll probably want to sign up
with a web metrics tracking company like www.webtrends.com or www.urchin.com.

If you’re interested in learning more about conversion enhancement, I highly recommend


stopping over at the Eisenberg brothers’ website: www.futurenowinc.com. Future Now
is the rate-enhancement master, and they offer a ton of information and resources on their
site; you can sign up for their newsletter at www.grokdotcom.com

#36 - Moderate an Online Discussion Group

In Internet lingo, this strategy is called “Creating a Community.” By establishing a


forum for like-minded people to discuss related issues, ask questions, etc, you give
people a reason to keep coming back to your site. For example, let’s say you’re a
financial planner and you’ve developed a website to serve other financial planners and
their customers. On your discussion board, when someone posts a question, financial
planners or other customers can post their replies. As the moderator of this discussion
board, you have control over what stays on the board and can create the posting
guidelines in advance.

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This community can be created as part of your website or you can start a discussion
group using an online forum like Yahoo Groups: http://groups.yahoo.com/.

Alternatively, you can integrate an “Ask Me” question-and-answer (Q&A) area into your
site, giving visitors the opportunity to submit questions to which you provide answers. You
can send an email to your subscribers each time this area is updated with the new Q&As.

#37 - Develop a Distance Learning Program or e-Course

Traditionally, when people hear “distance learning,” they think about getting a degree
from home; in fact, the distance learning industry has become a multibillion-dollar
behemoth. As an author/expert in your field, you can develop an online tutorial to teach
people how to do what it is that you do. And you can charge for it! This can be a very
powerful leveraging tool for authors who provide highly specialized, in-demand
information. It takes a considerable amount of time and effort to develop an online
training course, but the rewards are enormous. This type of program can be executed
with pdf downloads (Adobe Acrobat files), audio/video training and examples, e-Books,
online forms, homework submitted via email, etc. There’s really no limit to what you can
create, and you can price this program based on the value-added benefits your target
market receives from the information. If you construct your e-course well, it can
generate income for you while you sleep.

Here are several examples of online e-courses:

• Brian Tracy’s: www.empowermeonline.com


• Brian Tracy’s e-Learning Suites: www.briantracy.com (click on “e-Learning”)
• Consciousone’s e-Courses: www.consciousone.com (click on “Courses”)

There are services set up to assist you in your e-learning program development.
Check out:

• Ready Go!: www.readygo.com


• MindLeaders: www.mindleaders.com

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#38 - Conduct Teleseminars and Webinars

Teleseminars can be a very effective way of educating your audience and could
potentially become another revenue stream. Using conference-calling technology, you
can set up a call that features “how-to” seminars or special guests that you interview
live—with a near-infinite number of callers listening on the line. You can conduct a live
Q&A at the end of the call or answer questions that have been emailed to you. These
calls can be offered as free value-added benefits to your mailing list subscribers (which
will probably be the main way you’ll market the calls), or you can develop a content-
specific teleprogram and charge for the calls. Additionally, these teleseminars can be
packaged with other offerings as a “bonus” product.

For examples of teleseminars check out:

• The Goals Guy: www.goalsguy.com/About/teleseminars.html


• Life Coach Mary Allen: www.lifecoachmary.com/schedule.htm
• Robert Allen: www.robertallen.com (and click on “Live TeleSeminar”)

There are many teleconferencing services on the market. One such service is Webley’s
CommuniKate Conferencing service (www.webley.com).

#39 - Affiliate Marketing

If you have an e-commerce-enabled website and you’re selling products like e-books and
other electronic downloads, an affiliate marketing program can be a powerful way to
generate serious traffic and sales. You can create an affiliate marketing program to
incentivize other websites to market your products to their visitors in exchange for a
referral fee. They earn a commission, and you increase your exposure and expand your
customer base.

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To implement your affiliate marketing program:

1. Create a landing page (a web page that communicates the features and benefits of
the product). If your products are strictly digital, meaning there’s no physical
package to ship, then you’ll probably go with a service like ClickBank
(www.clickbank.com). If you’re going to be shipping physical product to the
customer, you can utilize an existing program like DirectTrack
(www.directtrack.com) or MyAffiliateProgram (www.myaffiliateprogram.com).
2. Create affiliate marketing tools (email copy, small ads, etc.) that your affiliates
can use to sell your product.
3. Compile a list of potential affiliates and contact them via email to invite them to
join your affiliate program.

Leverage Amazon.com’s Associate Program: If your book is the only product you’re
selling on your personal website, I’d encourage you to send your visitors to Amazon.com
(through their affiliate program) to purchase your book. There are many advantages to
using Amazon.com rather than filling the book orders in-house: they are masters at e-
commerce and have defined the online purchasing experience (especially for books), you
can eliminate the hassle of filling orders in-house, and most people are already
comfortable purchasing books from Amazon.com, which increases the likelihood that
they will complete their orders. To join Amazon.com’s Associate Program, go to
www.amazon.com and click on “Join Associates.”

#40 - Execute the “Amazon.com Push”

There’s a specific strategy many authors (especially authors whose platforms are based
on marketing/how-to-make-money) employ to push a new book up the Amazon.com
sales ranking. Amazon.com’s sales list is updated hourly, based primarily upon the
number of books sold in a given hour. If your book is ranked 958,000 and a couple
hundred people buy your book within a specific timeframe, your book’s ranking will
dramatically jump (quite possibly into the top 100). Obviously, this is an unsustainable
and somewhat artificial tactic, but it does sell books, and you can claim that your book is

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“an Amazon.com bestseller” if you’re ranked in the top five. This strategy is outlined in
detail in your Become a Best-Selling Author program guide-book on page 37.

A “lighter” version of the “Amazon.com Push” strategy is to send out an email to your
list announcing your book’s release. Be sure to provide a direct link to the book on
Amazon.com via your affiliate link so you earn additional commission (15%) on each
purchase.

To join Amazon.com’s Associate Program (affiliate program), go to: www.amazon.com


and click on “Join Associates” at the bottom of the page.

#41 - Build an Amazon.com “Listmania” List

You’ve probably noticed that a number of these web marketing book strategies involve
Amazon.com. Amazon is the largest online bookstore, selling over 150,000 books per
day to millions of customers. They have teams of people whose primary responsibility is
to enhance the Amazon.com user experience and to give readers reasons to revisit the site
often. Amazon.com is an expert at marketing to the book-buying community, utilizing
features like “Listmania,” a program that allows readers to recommend their top 25
favorite books (broken out into categories) to the Amazon.com community, complete
with a brief commentary. The value of posting a list is that when people read your book
reviews or want to get recommendations from other readers, your list can lead them to
your book(s). (I’ve been introduced to several great authors this way.)

To create a “Listmania List”:

1. If you don’t already have an Amazon.com account, you’ll need to create one
(from www.amazon.com, click on “Your Account” in the top of the screen).
2. Click on the tab that says, “[Your First Name] Store.”
3. Click on “Friends & Favorites” below the tabs.
4. Click on “Add a Listmania List” in the left-column menu and follow the
instructions.

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PUBLICITY

#42 - Hire a Publicist

If you’re looking to get “major” print coverage or to schedule national television


appearances, you need a publicist. Publicists start at $1,500/month on the very low end
to $10,000/month and higher, with the average monthly retainer running in the
neighborhood of $2,500 to $5,000. (If a publicist is outside your budget, fear not. There
are many other low budget, effective, publicity-generating strategies to come.)

I make this recommendation to you with some hesitancy because this approach includes
some significant challenges: For many authors, there’s simply an insufficient budget for
hiring a good publicist. Major publishing houses generally only cover three months of
publicity for their authors, and there’s really no such thing as a good 90–day publicity
plan. Most plans need at least six months or more to be effective.

But here’s the most frustrating part: you can pay this pricey retainer and end up with
absolutely no media coverage. And this isn’t an uncommon occurrence. It’s easy to fault
the publicist, but in the end, it’s really the nature of the business: They can’t make a
writer at USA Today cover your story or guarantee that the producer of Good Morning
America will want you on their show. If you’re going to hire a publicist, please keep in
mind that not all publicists are created equal and it’s probably best to find one through a
personal referral. It can be worthwhile to pay more for a publicist who has close, solid
relationships with major media as opposed to publicists whose primary strategy is to
spray the media with press releases.

#43 - Hire a Media Trainer

There are publishers and authors that spend thousands of dollars each month on publicists
who generate print, television, and radio interviews. But even if the publicist succeeds,
the book-selling venture can still fail if the author hasn’t been properly trained on

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conducting an interview. It’s extremely unlikely that an author will be booked on a


television talk show if he or she doesn’t have proven media skills. Talk shows like
Oprah have multiple producers that typically interview potential guests two or three
times. Great media training is important because it teaches you the “stage presence” you
need to “seal the deal.” As an added bonus, a media trainer will help you develop the
“hooks” that will make your presentation more marketable.

One of the best-known and most-respected media training experts is Joel Roberts, the
official media trainer for the Chicken Soup for the Soul authors, Jack Canfield and Mark
Victor Hansen. Visit Joel’s website at www.joelroberts.com (and let him know that Scott
Jeffrey sent you).

#44 - Develop a Captivating Media Kit

If you hire a publicist, this is generally his or her responsibility; otherwise, it’s up to you.
The power of your hook and the quality of your overall presentation can mean the
difference between no media opportunities and hundreds of them. The components of the
media kit are covered in the section below, “The Tools.”

A terrific resource to help you put together your media kit is Artist Management Systems:
www.artistsystems.com.

#45 - Generate Free Publicity on the Radio

You can take advantage of a lot of free publicity by guesting for radio interviews. Here’s
a quick rundown of how to generate free publicity:

1) Develop a strong media “hook.” It’s important that before approaching radio
producers, you find a compelling “hook” to grab their attention. Oftentimes, the
best hooks are topical, meaning they tie your book’s message to a current event.
For example, if you’ve written a book on how integrity in business translates to
the bottom line, you can integrate examples like Martha Stewart, WorldCom, and

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Enron into your hook. A good question to generate some ideas is, “How can my
book’s principles address a need or key frustration people are experiencing right
now?” The more captivating the hook, the more likely a producer is to book you
for an interview.

2) Write a high-impact cover letter, press release, or email message. This is


essentially your pitch. Be concise, be specific—essentially, be as descriptive as
you can in as few words as possible. Remember, producers are asking one
primary question: Will this topic make for an entertaining show? Producers are
often hesitant to put authors on the air for fear they will bore their audiences.
Focus on what the listeners/readers will take away from an interview with you,
and outline how you can help these producers create a captivating show.

3) Develop an attention-grabbing media kit. This is covered in detail in “The


Tools” below.

4) Using the Internet or snail mail, send out your pitch. If you’re using the
Internet (email), you’ll probably be using a media e-blast or fax-on-demand
service (covered below). Avoid sending unsolicited emails with attachments to
the media—they will usually be deleted. Just email your press release as text. If
you’re sending a physical package, you’ll need a media contact list. The most
comprehensive one I’m aware of is found at Alex Carroll’s
www.radiopublicity.com.

5) Follow-up by phone and/or email. Always be professional and whenever


possible, have someone follow up on your behalf (ideally your publicist). Many
times, you’ll find that they never read your letter or your email, and you’ll have to
resend it.

Start small and build momentum: in the beginning, accept every opportunity to be
interviewed. First, it’s a terrific way to practice your interviewing skills for the big
players later on (I highly recommend hiring a media trainer to help you prepare if you are

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just starting out). Second, you’re planting seeds each time you’re on the air, and you
never know who is listening or where those who are interviewing you will end up!
Smaller stations can give way to larger stations.

Constant attention must be given to publicity for a book to have “staying power” in the
marketplace. Big-time authors like John Gray (Men Are from Mars, Women Are from
Venus) and Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup for the Soul series)
spend a large portion of their time doing interviews—still. Generating publicity is an
ongoing priority to shore up their success.

If you’re looking for a comprehensive program on how to generate radio publicity, I


highly recommend checking out Alex Carroll’s www.radiopublicity.com (this is the
program Dr. X mentioned in Become a Best-Selling Author). Another resource worth
exploring is the Radio-Television Interview Report: www.rtir.com.

#46 - Solicit Book Reviews

Reviews sell books. Many avid readers base their book selections upon a glowing review
they read in their favorite publication. There are two basic types of reviews:
“prepublication” and “postpublication.” Prepublication reviews are aimed at the
wholesale book market, while postpublication reviews target the retail consumers.
Submitting your manuscript for “prepub reviews” requires the support of your publisher
(unless, of course, you self-publish), because a copy of your manuscript (called a galley)
needs to reach reviewers three to five months prior to publication. (A galley is a prepub
version of your book that is either trimmed and perfect bound like a real book, or laser
printed and comb bound.)

Prepub reviewers include:

• Publishers Weekly: www.publishersweekly.com


• Library Journal: www.libraryjournal.com
• Kirkus Review: www.kirkusreview.com

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• ALA Booklist: www.ala.org


• New York Times Book Review: www.nytimes.com/books

For a comprehensive list of reviewers with descriptions and contact information, see Dan
Poynter’s The Self-Publishing Manual (Para Publishing, 2003) – Chapter 7: “Promoting
Your Book.”

#47 - Utilize Media e-Blast & FOD Services

Media e-blasts services are a hidden gem in the publicity business. These services
include a list of opt-in media professionals, mostly radio producers, who have elected to
receive these messages. These services send your press release (usually crafted by the
service for an additional fee) to their list via email and fax with the contact information of
either you, your publicist, or your manager. The same e-blast can be sent out several
times, or a press release may be crafted based on the results of the campaign.

The best part of this strategy is its cost: Compared to hiring a publicist and having
physical media kits sent in the mail, these programs are inexpensive. You pay for the
writing of the press release and are charged a fee per email that is sent.

The results can be staggering: One of my clients who used these services (iMedia Fax)
found it generated more radio interviews than he was physically able to conduct!

Here’s a list of services:

• Paul Krupin’s www.imediafax.com (This is the only service I’ve had any
experience with.)
• URL News Network: www.urlwire.com
• Xpress Press: www.xpresspress.com

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OFFLINE SALES AND MARKETING

#48 - Build a “VIP List”

Of all the strategies listed here, this one can be the most powerful—yet it’s the most
underused. Who do you know that can help you with your marketing efforts? Very
often, sending a few signed (and personalized) books to a few key “gatekeepers” can do
more than 10 great publicity strategies combined.

This strategy is fairly straightforward:

1. Compile your list of contacts in Microsoft Outlook or whatever database


management software you use (instructions for Outlook below) and refer to it for
each new product release.
2. Cultivate your relationship with this cherished group of people and watch your list
grow.
3. When your next book comes out, send each one a signed and personalized copy.
This needs to be emphasized: it’s easy to have your publisher send out a book on
your behalf, but if your book isn’t signed and personalized to the individual,
you’ve just lost an amazing opportunity. If you’ve ever received a signed and
personalized book from someone before, you’ll understand why—it makes you
feel special! And you’ll keep that book. Too few authors and publishers
understand this.

Is your current list of influential people a little thin? Well, here’s a good place to start
your marketing efforts. There’s a great chance that you know more people than you
realize or that you’re only a few phone calls away from accessing them. You’re looking
for what marketer Seth Godin calls “Sneezers,” people of influence who may talk about
your product and/or provide a gateway to new opportunities (like speaking engagements
or bulk orders of your book). Additionally, many of these people can be counted on to
offer testimonials and endorsements of new products.

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Some more suggestions:

• Every time you release a new product, send your VIPs a copy with a simple,
handwritten note.
• Send a brief email to your VIPs to inform them of every noteworthy media
opportunity you receive.
• Send them cards for New Year’s and other special holidays.
• Learn whatever you can about each person. Record their information in Outlook.
When are their birthdays? Send them cards or emails, or give them a call.

You can build a VIP list of hundreds or thousands. And let me give you a heads-up: in
many cases, you won’t get a thank you—neither an acknowledgment of receipt nor a
thank-you email. Don’t take it personally, and don’t worry about it. People are busy.
Think about it this way: you’re planting seeds. You never know when an opportunity
might present itself in the future because of something you sent out to someone today.

To create a new category called “VIPs” or “Book Contact List” in Outlook:

1. Select any item. (An item is the basic element that holds information in Outlook
(similar to a file in other programs.) Items include email messages, appointments,
contacts, tasks, journal entries, notes, posted items, and documents.).
2. On the Edit menu, click Categories.
3. Click Master Category List.
4. In the New category box, type a name for the category.
5. Click Add.
6. To create more categories, repeat steps 3 and 4.

7. Click OK twice.

To create a distribution list in Outlook (for emailing):

1. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Distribution List.
2. In the Name box, type a name.
3. Click Select Members.

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4. In the Show names from the list box, click the address book that contains the
email addresses you want in your distribution list.
5. In the Type name or select from list box, type a name you want to include. In
the list below, select the name, and then click Members. Do this for each person
you want to add to the distribution list, and then click OK.
6. If you want to add a longer description of the distribution list, click the Notes tab,
and then type the text.
7. The distribution list is saved in your Contacts folder by the name you give it.

#49 - Send a Handwritten Note

You are probably saying to yourself, What does a handwritten note have to do with
selling books? The quick answer: everything. They can affect not only your ability to
sell a massive number of books, but the speed in which your career grows. How? Read
on.

In our Internet-paced, digital world, the art of writing thank-you notes and taking the time
to personalize our mailings is lost. Yes, email is extremely efficient and allows us to
communicate quickly with each other. But every professional is also a person with his or
her own emotions, experiences, beliefs, behaviors, and qualities—and a handwritten note
gives you the power to connect with an individual in a personal way.

Here are a few times when a handwritten note might be appropriate:

• After you’ve completed a speaking engagement at a company


• When you’re sending a book or other new product to someone
• At random, to the people who continually contribute to your personal growth and
business development

You don’t need to write a dissertation—just a few sentences to let them know that you
appreciate them and all the hard work they do. Also, use professional stationery—either
your own personalized stationery or something at a quality comparable to Crane’s
stationery (www.cranes.com). These notes create a connection with someone who may

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help you down the line. They represent you well and set you apart you from the majority
of people who never take the time to send a note.

#50 - Start Local, Go Global

Richard Evans, the best-selling author of The Christmas Box (Simon & Schuster, 1995),
sold over 250,000 units as a self-publisher targeting his local bookstores before any of the
big publishers started knocking on his door. (The book now has over eight million copies
in print.) James Redfield also had to personally sell 100,000 copies of The Celestine
Prophecy (Warner Books, 1995) before the publishing houses would pay attention. (Now
there are over 17 million copies in print.)

To create bookselling buzz, your book needs to get in the hands of people of influence so
they can begin talking about it, and the best way to build momentum is to build a
grassroots platform by aggressively selling your book in and around your hometown.
Don’t just think in terms of bookstores. Where else can your book be sold? Can you get
it distributed in your local health food stores? Gift shops? Gas stations? Get creative.
Can you set up a table in a high-traffic area and sell autographed copies yourself? I’ve
heard many stories from people like Wayne Dyer: With his first book, Your Erroneous
Zone, he filled up the trunk of his car and sold them from mall parking lots.

#51 - Facilitate Study Groups

Your book topic may be conducive to study groups. All across the country, groups of
men and women get together in churches, clubhouses, homes, and offices for small-group
activities that center around specific topics, including books (i.e. book clubs). Perhaps
you can create a study guide for these groups (ideally tied into your book) to facilitate
both group discussion and individual contemplation. The study guide could contain
specific discussion topics, key questions, and additional resources. Promote these guides
in your book and offered them as a free downloadable PDF on your website.

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For an example of a study guide created to facilitate group discussion and personal
growth, check out:

• Jim Collins: www.jimcollins.com/lib/discussion.html


• Richard Paul Evans: www.richardpaulevans.com/bookclub.html

You also might want to check out Book Movement, an online network of reading groups
and authors that includes reading group guides and book discussion forums:
www.bookmovement.com.

#52 - Pursue Bulk Sales and Specialty Market Opportunities

Why sell one book when you can sell 10,000? The potential revenue generated from bulk
book orders is scintillating: Although these thousand-dollar orders require you to
heavily discount your book, the possibility of infusing so many copies of your book into
the marketplace in one simple transaction is wonderful … and often possible.

A number of bulk sales opportunities are available, including book clubs, network
marketing organizations, and mail order catalogs. Book clubs alone represent a billion-
dollar market for publishers. There are numerous ways to structure deals with book clubs
[see John Kremer’s 1001 Ways to Market Your Books (Open Horizons, 2000) for more
information].

Here are a few resources to get you started:

• Book-of-the-Month, Inc.: www.bomc.com (They operate over ten book clubs and
have over 3.5 million members.)
• Books Are Fun: www.booksarefun.com (a division of Reader’s Digest that
places bulk orders for a select few books)

Literary Marketplace: The Directory of the American Book Publishing Industry with
Industry Yellowpages (Information Today, 2001) has a complete listing of book clubs
you can contact.

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#53 - Traditional Direct Marketing

Advertising your book through traditional channels (television, magazines, etc) is not
typically the best use of your capital. However, you may have a specific expertise you
can sell (usually in the form of “how-to” information) to a very specific market, and
advertising through traditional channels can result in some success.

For example, if you’re a proficient copywriter, you can craft a small ad that sells your
book, “How to Launch a Business in Under 30 Days.” After some research, you
determine that the best publications to reach your target market are Entrepreneur, Small
Business Opportunities, and Small Business Journal. After examining their rate cards,
you select a publication and place a small ad with your web address (ideally the book’s
landing page) and a toll-free number.

After testing several different ads to determine which ones bear the best results, you can
invest in a larger ad with the same headline and more copy. Eventually, you’ll keep
expanding until you are placing full-page ads and your sales are exploding. If you plan on
pursuing this strategy on a large scale, you’ll probably want to contract the help of a call
center and a fulfillment warehouse to handle your orders.

Note: The above is a cursory illustration to highlight an additional strategy for


bookselling. If this approach intrigues you, I highly suggest studying direct marketing a
bit more before proceeding.

Here are a few resources:

• Dan Kennedy: www.dankennedy.com


• Ted Nicholas: www.tednicholas.net
• Direct Marketing Association: www.the-dma.org

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#54 - Conduct Local Book Signings

Despite what most newbie authors believe, book signings are not a must, and in most
cases are unfruitful and very expensive. Think about this: you live in NYC and you
travel to Chicago to sign books in Borders on Michigan Avenue. How many books do
you need to sell to make the two-day trip worthwhile? How many books are you
realistically going to sell? (Less than 20, most likely.) Unless you’re a big-name author
with the resources of a large publishing house and a publicist that can arrange multiple
appearances and radio interviews in each city, you’re probably better off focusing on
other bookselling strategies.

However, if you’re already scheduled to be in a city on a media tour or for a speaking


engagement, it’s definitely advantageous to do as many local events as possible. Why?
First, you won’t incur additional travel costs or excessive time commitments. Second,
your local appearance is considered “newsworthy” and can lend additional credibility to
your book.

Bookstores in your hometown may be very receptive to having a “local author” make an
appearance and may support you in numerous ways.

#55 - Sell Product at Your Speaking Engagements (BOTR)

Speaking venues provide an ideal platform for selling your books (and other products) in
the back of the room. Conduct seminars and speaking engagements at the local and
national level whenever possible. Even if you speak for free (and you will a lot in the
beginning), you are introducing new people to your work. BOTR sales represent one of
your most significant opportunities for generating large amounts of cash in a short period
of time.

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A few general rules of thumb:

• Always make your prices easy to see (big signs whenever possible).
• Always have sufficient stock, and pile the table with product.
• Always have enough people staffing the booth/table to avoid lines (if people have
to wait around, they usually won’t).
• Try to price in multiples of five dollars (you don’t want to mess around with
change when there’s a line of people waiting).
• The secret to successful BOTR sales is packaging. If you have multiple products,
create special pricing structures so that if someone purchases everything, he or
she receives a deep discount—and promote the discount! Even if you only have
one product, like a book, you can still create a package: if each copy sells for
$15, you can sell a set of five for $50—and promote the book as a terrific gift
item!
• Open a merchant account. Credit card processing is becoming a must for BOTR
sales since most people don’t carry around cash or checks.

#56 - Join Trade Organizations and Attend Book Conferences

Trade events and book conferences can provide an excellent opportunity for networking
and building your “VIP list” (see above). If nothing else, you’ll learn important
information, like: What are the major trade organizations in your field of expertise?
What events can you get involved in? How can you best serve those organizations? And
you never know who you’re going to meet. Perhaps they can help you promote your
book!

The largest book conference in the United States is called Book Expo America (BEA).
Attending a conference like this in, say, New York City’s Javits Center can be
overwhelming: Endless rows of publishers presenting their newest books by their hottest
authors. It’s quite a show.

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Here’s a list of the major book fairs supported by the larger U.S. publishers:

• Book Expo America: www.bookexpo.reedexpo.com


• American Library Association Book Fair: www.ala.org
• National Association of College Stores Book Fair: www.nacs.org
• Christian Booksellers Association Book Fair: www.cbaonline.org
• Frankfurt Book Fair: www.frankfurt-book-fair.com (This is the world’s largest
book fair, held in Frankfurt, Germany, each year.)

If you’re a self-published author, I highly recommend joining Publishers Marketing


Association and attending their annual conference held the same week as BEA (usually in
the same city). Check out: www.pma-online.org.

Also check out:

• Editorial Freelance Association: www.the-efa.org/


• Small Publishers Association of North America: www.spannet.org
• Small Press Center: www.smallpress.org

#57 - Create a Book-Promoting Business Card

If executed well, a book-promoting business card can be an excellent conversation starter


and could trigger book sales. To make this strategy effective, I suggest simply displaying
the cover of your book on the card along with a short description that creates intrigue and
ends with a “call to action.” Here are a few ideas:

• Ask a hypnotic question, like, “Do you really know why your customers buy from
you?” (or other applicable question).Then provide a link to either your website or
your book’s landing page.
• Use a four-paneled card that folds in half into a traditional business-card size and
include a portion of your book’s principles on the card. For example, “You must
master ten skills to successfully sell over one million books.” Then list five of them
and say, “Want to know the other five? Visit: www.YourDomainName.com.”

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The point, again, is to be creative, be captivating, and leave a little mystery—leave them
wanting more. Ideally, when someone receives your business card or finds it on the table
in a café, that someone will be intrigued enough to seek out more information.

#58 - Brainstorm Promotional Campaigns

Similar to the promotional business card idea above, you can develop your own ways of
creatively spreading the word about you, your book, your e-newsletter, etc. There is an
infinite number of ways to promote on a shoestring budget.

Here’s a fun little promotion I experimented with to generate new subscribers to an e-


newsletter I use to edit called Impossible Journeys:

1. The theme of the Impossible Journeys messages was “Live an Impossible


Adventure.” To reinforce this idea, I had boarding passes designed that said
things like “Departure Time: Today” and “Destination: Anywhere you want to
go.”
2. The departure gate field had the web address to the e-newsletter sign-up page. I
used a different address than my usual domain name so that I could track how
many people were accessing the page through the promotion.
3. There were only a few lines of ad copy on the side that said something like, “Are
you ready for an Impossible Adventure?” The idea was to spark their curiosity
and get them to go to the website.
4. I printed several thousand of these boarding passes, and I began (with the help of
friends) spreading them around Manhattan in cafés, health food stores,
bookstores, and anywhere brochures where permitted.
5. The web page gave them more information about the e-newsletter and made it
very easy to sign up—just type your email address and click “submit.”

With a little creativity, you can come up with your own unique, inexpensive promotional
campaign.

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#59 - Launch an “Ideavirus” and Create a “Purple Cow”

Seth Godin is the author of several bestsellers and the person responsible for popularizing
“permission marketing” (used in most opt-in email marketing campaigns and in a host of
other venues). Mr. Godin is also an extremely creative marketer and has written a
number of books you should read, especially Unleashing the Ideavirus (Hyperion, 2001)
and Purple Cow (Portfolio, 2003).

The Ideavirus concept is a terrific way to generate buzz. Mr. Godin’s concepts of “hives”
and “sneezers” are highly applicable to authors. You can download the e-book version of
his book for free at www.ideavirus.com.

“Purple Cows” are remarkable companies and stand-out products. Do you have a
remarkable book? Have you developed a remarkable marketing strategy? Check out the
Purple Cow website at www.sethgodin.com/purple. Also, you can read Seth’s marketing
plan for the book here: www.sethgodin.com/purple/chapter.html.

#60 - Insert Your Brilliant Book-Selling Idea Here

The human mind seems to have a tendency to gravitate toward routine … we paint with
the same colors, getting stuck in specific ways of doing things. When we get locked into
the proverbial box, we lose our ability to think creatively, to innovate and to be
outrageous.

With certainty, conviction and a hint of imagination, you can develop your own explosive
book marketing plan, tailored to your market. Just don’t forget the most important
element of your plan: Execution.

After you’ve identified your objectives and formulated your strategy, commit to
achieving the results you want without exception. With creative thinking and relentless
pursuit, you have a much greater probability of manifesting a best-selling book!

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THE TOOLS
Essentially, there are four primary tools an author needs to build his or her career. They
are the author’s website, media kit, speaker’s kit, and new products.

AUTHOR WEBSITE
For most authors, there are three basic groups of people visiting your site:

1. Customers: Customers can include current fans, potential readers, consulting


clients, etc.

2. Media Professionals: These include radio and television producers, newspaper


reporters, and magazine writers.

3. Event Planners: These are executives looking to book you as a keynote speaker
for their conferences, business owners who may hire you to conduct seminars and
workshops for their companies, etc.

With these three groups in mind, you can more effectively build the architecture for your
website. Each website will have unique elements related to the author or platform, but
here are five of the most common navigation headings:

1. Home: Feature your newest title on your homepage, as well as a teaser window
for your event calendar and latest news.

2. About [Your Name Here]: Many people who find their way to your website are
looking for the “About [You]” section to learn more about you and your platform.
Potential customers, media professionals, and event planners will all look for this
menu option.

3. Speaking: This section is also called “Events.” You’ll want to include your
digital Speaker’s Kit, workshop/keynote titles and descriptions, downloadable

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promotional tools, audio/video clips, and any other materials that might be useful
for event planners. Always have your contact information easily accessible. Here
are other important elements:

• “Book [You]” submission request form


• Digital video and audio clips of past performances
• Client testimonials strategically located around the site

4. Media: This section is targeted toward media professionals who want to learn
more about you for their radio and television shows or for a newspaper/magazine
article. In addition to your digital media kit, you’ll want to have all your press
releases and any media clippings. This section should also have a “Book [You]”
media submission request form.

5. Product: (Also called “Shopping.”) Feature each product, an overview of its


contents, endorsements, and possibly a sample chapter or two. Your goal is to
instigate a purchase. Generally, you are better off leveraging Amazon.com’s
relationship with the online book-buying public and sending your customers to
them, as opposed to making your website e-commerce–enabled, which is fraught
with costs and headaches. If you have a large number of products, including an e-
commerce engine might be a better option for you. If you do decide to direct
people to Amazon.com, be sure to join their affiliate program.1 Set up the link
properly and you’ll be able to track click-throughs to Amazon.com and get a 15%
commission on all books sold through your link (and 5% on everything else they
purchase in that session!)

6. Contact: Provide a phone number, email address, fax number, and mailing
address, as well as a contact form, for general submissions.

1
Amazon.com calls their affiliate program “Associates Program.” Learn more at www.amazon.com and
click on “Join Associates” at the bottom of the page.

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Now that you have the basic infrastructure for your site, here are a few additional features
you should consider incorporating:

• Subscription Box: Your visitors may be interested in hearing from you


occasionally. Building your database of opt-in emails will help you market
current and future products and services via an e-newsletter or email message (as
well as enable you to form strategic alliances with other authors). By putting the
sign-up box on the homepage, you’re making it convenient for visitors to sign up.

• Privacy Policy: Be sure to make your privacy policy visible at the point of action
(i.e. place a link to your privacy policy right below the “Submit” button in your e-
newsletter subscription box).

• Blog: We discussed blogging earlier (#26), but as a reminder, blogging is a


simple and effective way to publish your thoughts/discoveries/relevant musings
online. It’s free and easy. (I recommend Google’s www.blogger.com.) If you
aren’t able to integrate the blog into your website, you can simply provide a
highly visible hypertext link to your blog.

• The “Banana”: This concept is from Seth Godin’s e-book, The Big Red Fez
(Free Press, 2002). What is the first thing people are going to see when they
come to your site? What’s the main “call to action”? What is it that you want
them to do? Lead the “monkey” with a banana. If you’re promoting your book,
obviously you’ll want to feature that on your homepage. Go to Seth’s site for an
example: www.sethgodin.com.

• Name/logo: In the upper left corner, let them know who you are. Also, it’s
advisable to make your name/logo a hotlink back to your homepage (many users
are conditioned to navigate this way).

• Digital Media: Consider developing different forms of digital promotional media.


Check out BookStream’s web-based video book promotion products:
www.bookstreaminc.com; also, check out: Consciousone’s
www.wisdomflash.com.

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MEDIA KIT & SPEAKER’S KIT


Generally, you’ll hear people tell you, “You need a press kit.” And “press kit” is used
interchangeably with “presentation kit.” The challenge is, event planners and the media
are each looking for specific information about your platform. Does an event planner
want to read your latest press release or see your proposed interview questions? Not
really. Is a radio producer really interested in the content of the workshops you give?
You get the idea: The clearer you are on who you’re targeting, the easier it will be for
you to deliver the information they’re looking for. Traditionally, media kits have been
printed on four-color, coated stock and packaged in an attractive folder that was delivered
to the intended recipient via express mail. Fortunately, times have changed. Although
there are still media and event planning professionals who require a physical package, the
majority are happy to access a Portable Document Format (PDF) file from your website.

To create an Adobe PDF file, you have several options:

1. Purchase the Adobe Acrobat program for several hundred dollars at


www.adobe.com.
2. Submit your file online to Adobe at www.adobe.com (click on the icon “Create
Adobe PDF Online”). You can use this service five times free; then there’s a
monthly fee.
3. Download and install free, advertising-based software, like www.pdf995.com.

Please note: Never send file attachments to anyone in the media without first getting the
individual’s permission. In most instances, emails with attachments will be deleted
immediately because of the risk of computer viruses. Ideally, you can simply direct them
to the appropriate kit download page on your website.

Media Kit

When you (or your publicist) approach radio producers, magazine editors/writers,
television producers, and newspaper reporters, you need a strong pitch or hook. Why do
their audiences/readers need to know about you? Will you make for an entertaining

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show? Is your topic provocative, unique, scintillating, mesmerizing, or controversial?


The answers to these questions should be contained in your media kit.

Here are the various pages and information that you’ll probably want to include:

• Press Release: Start with an engaging “hook” that engages the busy media
professional, possibly tying a current event to your book subject (also known as a
“topical hook”). Remember, he is trying to quickly ascertain whether or not you
have something interesting or newsworthy to say that will create an entertaining
experience for his audience.

• Interview Questions: In many cases, you’ll be approaching radio producers for


interview spots. What questions might they ask pertaining to the author and the
contents of his/her book? Again, be creative and think “entertainment.”

• Media Bites: This can be presented in a “controversy sheet” where you outline
what the status quo says or believes about an issue and what you believe to be the
“real truth.” Deliver this information in bulleted “bites.” In Tom Peters’ media
kit for his book Re-Imagine (Dorling Kindersley Publishing, 2003), there was a
page titled “Meet the New Boss: Why Women Rule!” You can download this
media kit here: www.tompeters.com (click on “Re-Imagine” and then “Press
Kit”).

• About the Author: Include a brief bio (about a paragraph), that highlights your
credentials and expertise in your field, a list of interviews you’ve conducted with
major media (if applicable), engaging testimonials about your book, endorsements
from other media professionals, like radio producers (this will help give the media
professional greater confidence in booking you), and an appropriate headshot.

• Contact Information. Be sure to include contact information (for you, your


manager, or your publicist) like your name, address, email, phone number, and
web address on every page (probably in the footer).

Keep in mind that the recipient of this kit is likely rushing to meet a deadline and must
get through a huge stack of mail and about 200 emails in a few hours. The point is, be

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brief, be concise, and be very specific about how an interview with you will benefit his
audience.

In addition to having this “kit” available for download from your “Media” web page,
you’ll want to include a few relevant media clips if you’ve got them. If you’ve done a
few terrific interviews for television or radio—post them. Give media professionals an
example of your competency to give them greater certainty about scheduling you.

Here are a few examples:

• Andy Andrews’ www.andyandrews.com (click on “Media” and then “Media Kit”)


• Tom Peters’ www.tompeters.com (click on “Tom’s Bio and PR”)

Speaker’s Kit

A speaker’s kit is a brochure to promote your various speaking services (keynotes,


workshops, etc). Event planners (sometimes via speaker bureaus), business executives,
and small business owners are your most likely recipients. The size of your speaker’s kit
will depend on how actively you speak publicly and in what venues. The graphic design
of your speaker’s kit should be similar to your media kit, which should be consistent with
your website and your overall brand or professional identity.

Here are the various pages and information that you’ll probably want to include:

• Keynote Presentation: This is your “flagship” presentation that probably


parallels the main topic of your latest book. What’s the title of this talk? Who is
the target audience? How will they benefit from hearing you speak?

• Seminars: Do you conduct seminars or workshops? What are they called? Do


you offer them to businesses and conduct your own venues as well? Who is the
target audience? What will they get out of it?

• Testimonials: This section is often called “What Others Are Saying.” Although
you can create a separate sheet of testimonials from past clients, it may be more
effective to sprinkle your testimonials throughout your speaker’s kit.

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• Past Clients: Where have you spoken before? Having a few high-profile
companies under your belt lends credibility to your platform and builds certainty
in the mind of a potential client. If you speak frequently, list your top (most
recognizable) clients. If not, list your past engagements. This information can be
presented with your testimonials or your seminars, or can be listed in the margin
of another page.

• Biography: The bio included in this kit can be longer and more detailed than the
media kit. There’s a good chance that a person looking to spend thousands of
dollars to bring you in to speak to his company will want to know more about
you. Be sure an appropriate headshot is included on the bio page.

In addition to having your speaker’s kit available for download on your “Speaking” or
“Events” web page, you’ll want to have one or two short downloadable videos (two to
three minutes) available on the same page. Show prospective event planners what you’re
like live.

For an excellent speaker’s kit example, go to Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba’s
“Creating Customer Evangelists” website:
www.creatingcustomerevangelists.com/speaking/ (click on “Speak kit (pdf)”).

Also check out:

• Patricia Fripp’s www.fripp.com (click on “For Meeting Planners”).


• Tony Alessandra’s Meeting Planners page: www.alessandra.com (click on “For
Meeting Planner”)
• Marjorie Brody’s www.brodycommunications.com.

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PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
In the strategies I’ve listed for you, several product development opportunities were
identified, but here is a point that hasn’t been stressed: continue repackaging your
existing content in as many ways as possible! Different people prefer different learning
mediums, and some people simply want them all! The reader who loved your book is
likely to purchase an audio program you produced on the subject. An audience member
who’s enthralled by your words and stage presence will likely head to your product table
after your presentation, pull out her credit card, and say, “I’ll take it all, please.” Each
new medium in which you produce a product expands your market. The customer who
discovers your home study course will be introduced to your books, audio programs, and
seminar venues. All these products are interconnected, and each time you develop a new
product, you’re creating an opportunity to expand your web of relationships.

Some products are best distributed BOTR at your speaking engagements and workshops.
It can be lucrative to have multiple products available at your live events so that you can
offer special packaged deals to the audience.

Some products are best sold online, like content-rich and/or time-sensitive e-books and
special reports, as well as e-courses and distance-learning programs.

Certain distribution relationships can considerably expand your market exposure almost
overnight. For example, if you’re able to get a deal with the world’s largest audio
program producer, Nightingale-Conant, your program will be introduced to over two
million customers who receive their catalogs, promotional mailings, and emails and visit
their website. This type of relationship is similar to that of your book publisher, but can
be much more lucrative because Nightingale can actually market your product directly to
your potential customers. (The current publishing industry hasn’t figured that out yet.)

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Here’s a comprehensive list of products you can create to help expand your platform,
generate exposure, increase sales, and build customer loyalty (all of these products were
discussed earlier in the section titled “The Strategies”):

• “Lecture” CD • Distance-learning program

• Recorded speaking engagements • Webinar series

• Traditionally-published book • E-course

• Self-published book • Home study course

• Audio version of your book • Half-day seminar

• Audio series (e.g. Nightingale-Conant) • Full-day workshop

• Special report • Weekend seminar/retreat

• E-books • Keynote address

• Teleseminar Series • Merchandise (e.g., T-shirts, mugs)

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REVENUE STREAMS
An author has many potential revenue streams. Let’s face it: until you actually do
manifest a mega-bestseller (and not just make it onto the list) and sell hundreds of
thousands—or millions—of books, you’re not likely going to be living off your
publishing royalties. For this reason, it’s important for authors to diversify their offerings
and continually try different communication channels. The Internet provides a plethora
of opportunities that were never previously available, and taking the time to master
various e-marketing strategies can be very advantageous for your career and your bank
account (which is why there has been an emphasis on e-marketing strategies throughout
this e-book).

Here’s a list of potential revenue streams an author can create, previously discussed in
“The Strategies”:

• e-Commerce–enabled website: Developing a series of products and becoming a


master marketer can help you build a healthy stream of revenue from web sales.

• e-Books/Special Report landing pages: If you have a highly-attractive offer and


you are a competent marketer, you can generate a consistent stream of revenue
from this strategy.

• Teleseminars: Although most teleseminars are free and used by marketers to


upsell listeners on other products and services, if packaged properly, you can
charge for these calls.

• Distance-Learning Program/e-Courses: Once you’ve developed your


course/program, you’ll probably need to create a marketing system and an e-
books landing page.

• Telephone coaching: You can charge for individual calls and/or monthly
coaching.

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• Consulting services: You can charge for specific deliverables, go on retainer,


and/or create a performance-based program where you’re tied to the
success/profits of the enterprise.

• Bookings/Speaking: Fees vary based on market demand and your platform’s


perceived value.

• Workshops/Seminars: You can charge for three-hour sessions, full-day


workshops, or weekend retreats.

• Publishing Advances/Royalties: See the Become a Best-Selling Author guide-


book for details.

• Sponsorships: As a speaker, you may be able to pick up a sponsor—if that’s


appropriate for your platform. Patrick Combs, public speaker and author of
Major in Success (Ten Speed Press, 2003), was able to get MasterCard to invest
$150,000 in his speaking tour to college campuses. (Check out Patrick’s site:
www.goodthink.com.)

• BOTR (Back-of-the-Room) Sales: Packaging and selling product at your


speaking engagements can become the primary source of revenue for an
author/speaker.

• Ancillary Products/Merchandising: These products can be sold online and at


your events.

• Affiliate Programs: You can leverage other marketers’ affiliate programs to


generate revenue and/or create your own and have other marketers selling your
products—affiliate commissions can vary from 5 to 50%.

• Google AdSense: If you have a high-traffic website, you can sign up for
Google’s AdSense program, which is like putting Google Adwords on your
website. Learn more at: www.google.com/ads.

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SUCCESS INDICATORS: TRACKING YOUR RESULTS


At the foundation of any successful marketing campaign are tracking systems—it’s
helpful to know how your marketing program is doing. This is an area where I believe
most authors (and possibly most business owners) drop the ball. It’s foolish to spend
endless hours developing marketing strategies for selling your products without creating
a measuring system to track the success of your plan.

Here’s a list of some of the tools you have available to help you track your marketing
efforts:

1) Book Sales: Okay, we’re starting off with the basics. This is the baseline, end-
result statistic you’re going to look at; unfortunately, the sales numbers for your
books can be difficult to get in a timely fashion unless you have access to Neilsen
BookScan. BookScan is a relatively new service (started in 2001), and although
it’s not as precise as the music industry’s standard, SoundScan, it does provide
monthly sales numbers through various retailers, outlets, and cities. The
challenge is that BookScan is expensive (starting at $10,000), and although your
publisher probably is a subscriber, they are not permitted to share this information
with their authors. Ultimately, your book marketing efforts all come down to
these final unit sales numbers.

2) Other Product Sales: Do you have an audio program with Nightingale-Conant?


Have you produced your own audio program? Are you selling it online? In the
BOTR at speaking engagements? What are you doing to increase these sales on a
monthly basis? Because you have easier access to personally developed products,
you can track your in-house efforts with greater ease.

3) Speaking Fee: Another obvious indicator that you’re moving in the right
direction is that your speaking fee is growing. The fee you’re able to command is
based on market demand and your perceived value. Do you think becoming a
best-selling author can help increase your speaking fee? You bet it can!

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4) Amazon.com Sales Ranking: Perhaps one of the best on-time indicators of book
sales is Amazon.com’s Sales Ranking, which is found on every book page and
updated hourly. If you’re doing an engaging and entertaining radio interview on a
major station, you can probably watch your sales ranking on Amazon climb after
the interview. (Big media events can really impact this ranking, too.)

5) JungleScan: JungleScan is a free service that enables you to track numerous


Amazon.com sales rankings over an extended period of time. Seeing a visual
graph of how your sales ranking has moved over the course of a month can be
very insightful. Click here to begin tracking your book(s): www.junglescan.com.

6) Alexa: Alexa was a web navigation project that started back in 1996 and was
later purchased by Amazon.com. Alexa’s website ranking enables you to see
where your website ranks in your particular genre or area of expertise. Visit:
www.alexa.com.

7) Web Logs: Every website should have access to basic web statistics. The
amount of information in these statistics varies, but at the very least, you should
be able to determine how many “unique visitors” find your site each month.
Another important statistic is called “single page access” which lets you know
how many people are visiting a particular page and then leaving your site. If you
wish to enhance your website’s conversion rates, your job is to minimize this
number.

8) Web Metrics: For those who are interested in becoming more involved in web
marketing and conversion rate enhancement, you’ll need a more sophisticated
type of web metrics software, like WebTrends (www.webtrends.com) or Urchin
(www.urchin.com). To really make use of web statistics, I highly recommend
going to www.futurenowinc.com (click on “Resources”) and using their free
guide-book and spreadsheets on website conversion enhancement.

9) E-newsletter Metrics: If you are sending out email and e-newsletter messages,
you definitely should be tracking at least two important statistics: the open rate

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and the click-throughs. Your open rate on an e-blast is the number of people who
actually “open” the email out of the total number to whom you sent it—this is
really how many people are on your mailing list. Because of spam-blockers and
the fact that people change email addresses often, the open rates on messages can
be disturbingly low. Click-through rates tell you how many people click on a link
in the email (your “call to action”) out of the number of people who opened the
email. Obviously, the higher the click-through rate, the more active and
responsive your subscribers are to your offers.

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FINAL THOUGHTS
Before you dive into these specific strategies, here’s a general framework from which to
approach your marketing efforts as an author:

• The “Ten-a-Day” Commitment – Commit to doing at least five to 10


“promotional” things each day to grow your career: Make a few phone calls;
pitch a few radio producers; submit a magazine article query; promote your book
in your community; draft an email message to your subscribers; speak to your
local Rotary club; pursue a specialty market opportunity … you get the idea.

• Key Question – An important question to constantly ask is: What can I do to


drive people to their local bookstore or to the Internet to find my book?

• Marketing Rule of 5 – A consumer needs to be exposed to your product (which


could be you, your book, your website, a promotional poster, a radio interview,
etc.) at least five to seven times before he or she buys. (This rule of thumb isn’t
true for back-of-the-room sales, where people will buy after one exposure.)

• Systems Theory – From Systems Theory, also called Complexity Theory, we


learn that everything is interconnected. We have a tendency to examine the
“parts” of a thing outside of the context of the whole. Book marketing is no
different. I’ve often heard authors exclaim in frustration, “I’ve tried everything!”
Upon examination, however, only two or three things were done over and over
again. Focusing on any one strategy may be fruitless; an integrated approach that
incorporates many of the strategies listed here will increase your chances for
success.

• Cerebral Weather – Otherwise known as brainstorming, creative thinking,


possibility questioning, etc. It’s too easy to get locked into one way of doing
things, isn’t it? We have a tendency to embark on a particular path and lock into a

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pattern that blinds us from all the opportunities that are just off the trail. Stay
alert!

• “Persist Without Exception” – Andy Andrews, author of the New York Times
bestseller, The Traveler’s Gift: Seven Decisions That Determine Personal
Success (Nelson Books, 2002), brilliantly illustrated this strategy. As an author,
you must commit to persisting without exception. How many times have we
unwittingly stopped inches from the finish line because we hadn’t committed to
following things through to the very end?

Finally, an old friend once said, “When you don’t know what to do, you do what you
know to do.” Within this treatise, you have a sufficient list of things to do that can, in
many cases, produce staggering results. This is by no means a definitive list on book
marketing. You are bound only by your creativity. Mixing and matching the marketing
strategies above might yield the miraculous for you!

Good luck!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR


With an impressive client list including New York Times best-selling authors, speakers,
entertainers, entrepreneurs, and CEOs, Scott Jeffrey is renowned for his ability to guide
each client's journey to the impossible—crafting their own adventures, zealously
following their bliss, and discovering their unique, meaningful contribution to the world.

As a passionate thinker, Scott’s quest has been fueled by an insatiable curiosity to


discover and to understand: Why do we do what we do? What drives us, inspires us,
debilitates, or confounds us—and why? In pursuit of these answers, Scott has explored
the works of great philosophers, physicists, business visionaries, and spiritual mystics.
Like Harold in Harold and the Purple Crayon, Scott is enamored with the power of our
imaginations to design our destinies, purple crayon in hand.

Scott is the author of Journey to the Impossible: Designing an Extraordinary Life, a


Benjamin Franklin Award finalist, as well as the 10-CD audio program, Everything you
Need to Know to Become a Best-Selling Author.

Scott, and his four-legged hiking companion, Yoda, reside in the mountains of upstate
New York.

Learn more about his coaching program at www.CreativeCrayon.com.

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